About Zanzibar

Zanzibar Island

General Information about Zanzibar Island

Zanzibar Tanzania Travel
Zanzibar island image: The Bixa orellana fruit opened (lipstick tree - ahead). The dye obtained from the pulp of the seed (called bixin) is used all over the world as a red-orange dye for coloring rice, cheeses, soft drinks, oil, butter, and soup. The seeds are also given to bulls to make them aggressive for bullfighters and are taken by indians as an aphrodisiac (Morton 1981).

Zanzibar is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25-50km (15-30mi) off the coast off the mainland. There are numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as "Zanzibar Island"), and Pemba Island. Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the Arab world; it united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964, and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its old quarter, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.

Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. It is still sometimes referred to as the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia), because of the significance of its production of cloves, of which it used to be the world leader, and also nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. Your visit to Zanzibar should definitely not miss the aroma of the Spice Island.

The ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the elusive Zanzibar Leopard. The word "Zanzibar" probably derives from the Persian, Zangi-bar ("coast of the blacks"); ultimately from the Arabic words of the same meaning, however it is known in Arabic as Zanji-bar.

Pemba Island

General Information about Pemba Island

Zanzibar Tanzania Travel
Pemba island image: Filming a lionfish in its territory. A lionfish is any of several species of venomous marine fish in the genera Pterois, Parapterois, Brachypterois, Ebosia or Dendrochirus, of the family Scorpaenidae. The lionfish is also known as the Turkey Fish, Scorpion or Fire Fish. They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance, red, green, navy green, brown, orange, yellow, black, maroon, or white.

The island of Pemba known as 'Al Jazeera Al Khadra' (the green island, in Arabic) is an island forming part of the Zanzibar archipelago, lying off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is situated about 50 kilometres to the north of the island of Zanzibar. In the 1960s Zanzibar was united with the former colony of Tanganyika to form Tanzania. It lies 50 kilometres east of mainland Tanzania. Together with Mafia Island (south of Zanzibar), they form the Spice Islands (not to be confused with Maluku Islands of Indonesia). In 1988, the estimated population was 265,000, with an area of 980kmsq. Most of the island, which is hillier and more fertile than Zanzibar, is dominated by small scale farming. There is large scale farming of cash crops such as cloves - there are over 3 million clove trees.

The most important towns in Pemba are Chake-Chake (the capital), Mkoani, and Wete. Pemba is with the exception of a strip along the east coastal area a very fertile place; beside clove trees the locals grow mainly rice, coconut, bananas, cassava and red beans called maharagwe in Kiswahili.

Pemba is also becoming a well-known Zanzibar travel spot for its dive sites, with vertiginous drop-offs, untouched coral and very abundant marine life. Great place to visit!